Former Rep. Aaron Schock (R-IL) said that he would not rule out a return to politics after striking a deal with federal prosecutors to have corruption charges dropped with no admission of wrongdoing if he pays restitution and back taxes, Politico reports.
Saiod Schock: “At 37 years old, I don’t think I’ll ever say never.”
Federal prosecutors finalized a deal to resolve the criminal charges against former Rep. Aaron Schock (R-IL) who was “accused of misspending campaign and government money for his personal benefit,” the Washington Post reports.
Chicago Tribune: “The stunning deal, known as a deferred prosecution agreement, was announced Wednesday during what was supposed to be a routine status hearing for Schock.”
“According to the agreement, Schock, 37, must pay $42,000 to the IRS and $68,000 to his congressional campaign fund. If he does so — and stays out of any new trouble — prosecutors would drop all felony counts against Schock, leaving him with a clean record.”
“Late Tuesday the ABC7 I-Team learned that something … is happening in the case-suggesting an outcome for Schock may be unveiled at the Dirksen federal building.”
“The one-time rising star of the Illinois Republican party resigned his Peoria Congressional seat in 2015 on accusations of misspending campaign funds on lavish personal expenses. Since the beginning the case has been laden with problems and it ended up being moved from Urbana to Chicago.”
“Now it appears there may be a dramatic shift in things. According to experts a possible scenario is that the government would reduce some of the 22 felonies to misdemeanors and that other charges would be dropped-offering a way out for Schock, that conceivably could allow him a return to politics.”
“It was a blessing to go back to prison for a second term.”
— Former Connecticut Gov. John Rowland (R), quoted by the Connecticut Post.
“In a wide-ranging indictment unsealed Wednesday, federal authorities portrayed the region’s most powerful labor leader, John Dougherty, as an unscrupulous kingpin who enriched himself on the backs of union members and exerted his influence to steamroll opponents and corruptly bend the government of Philadelphia to his whims,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
“The chief weapon in his arsenal, prosecutors said, was City Councilman Bobby Henon, whom Dougherty helped propel into office in 2011 on a tide of union money, then allegedly used as a tool to leave his mark on pressing legislation facing the city.”
Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) “has filed for divorce from his wife, Maureen, his one-time co-defendant in a tawdry corruption trial that exposed their marital woes and tarnished his political legacy before the U.S. Supreme Court tossed out his conviction,” the Washington Post reports.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren called President Trump an “accelerant” to a corrupt system in her first interview since she announced she is exploring a 2020 presidential run, NBC News reports.
Said Warren: “Donald Trump is an accelerant. He takes a problem that has just been growing and growing and growing and he just sets it off. And makes it worse than it ever was.”
George Packer: “The corruption I mean has less to do with individual perfidy than institutional depravity. It isn’t an occasional failure to uphold norms, but a consistent repudiation of them. It isn’t about dirty money so much as the pursuit and abuse of power—power as an end in itself, justifying almost any means. Political corruption usually trails financial scandals in its wake—the foam is scummy with self-dealing—but it’s far more dangerous than graft. There are legal remedies for Duncan Hunter, the defeated representative from California, who will stand trial next year for using campaign funds to pay for family luxuries. But there’s no obvious remedy for what the state legislatures of Wisconsin and Michigan, following the example of North Carolina in 2016, are now doing.”
“Multiple witnesses in the trial of Rep. Robert Brady’s (D-PA) former campaign strategist have implicated the congressman for conspiring to commit campaign finance crimes, recasting the spotlight on his past alleged corruption,” Roll Call reports.
“Brady, a longtime Philadelphia Democrat who is retiring in at the end of his 11th term in January, allegedly conspired with his former campaign strategists, Ken Smukler and Donald “D.A.” Jones, to pay a 2012 Democratic primary challenger $90,000 for him to exit the race.”
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Former Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX) “was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison Wednesday for a wide-ranging scheme that included spying on a potential GOP rival and misspending charitable contributions from conservative donors,” the Houston Chronicle reports.
“A political expert who has monitored Stockman’s political trajectory likened the right-wing firebrand’s downfall to that of President Richard Nixon, who was also disgraced for spying on opponents and covering up payoffs and other financial misdeeds.”
“A federal judge on Tuesday will sentence a former mayor of Allentown, Pennsylvania, who was convicted of bribery and related crimes that prosecutors said he carried out to finance an abortive run for the U.S. Senate,” Reuters reports.
“Ed Pawlowski was convicted on March 1 of 47 counts related to pay-to-play schemes in which he solicited kickbacks from prospective city contractors.”
Rep. Chris Collins (R-NY) opened up to WSYR-TV about how FBI agents made an early morning visit to his home earlier this year.
Said Collins: “That was the shock of all shocks, to have two agents at your door at 6 a.m. saying they just want to talk.”
For more than an hour, Collins said he “shared everything from A to Z” and then the agents hit him with a bombshell: “At the end of it all, they said, ‘Oh, by the way, we have a subpoena for you.'”
“The criminal indictment issued against Rep. Duncan Hunter and his wife, Margaret, last month alleges years of cavalier spending — luxury resorts, fine dining, tequila shots and more — all paid for with political contributions,” the San Diego Union Tribune reports.
The 47-page document also says Hunter had “personal relationships” with five unnamed individuals.
Defense attorney Gregory Vega objected: “While there may be evidence of infidelity, irresponsibility or alcohol dependence, once properly understood, the underlying facts do not equate to criminal activity.”
“Federal prosecutors offered Rep. Chris Collins (R-NY) a plea deal before indicting him on felony insider trading charges earlier this month, but the Republican from Clarence rejected it,” the Buffalo News reports.
“Criminal lawyers who are not involved in the case said, though, that they were not surprised that prosecutors sought to get Collins to settle the charges against him. They said they wouldn’t be surprised, either, if Collins and the other defendants in the case eventually plead guilty before the case goes to trial.”
After blaming his wife for illegal use of campaign funds last week, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) changed his tune in an interview with KGTV.
Said Hunter: “Leave my wife out of it, leave my family out of it. It’s me they’re after anyway. They’re not after my wife; they want to take me down, that’s what they’re up to. So let’s get this in the arena and have this settled.”
“Rep. Duncan Hunter’s (R-CA) legal defense is coming from the same campaign coffers he and his wife are accused of misusing, so far amounting to more than $600,000 for the lawyers,” Roll Call reports.
“Federal Election Commission filings show Hunter’s campaign made payments for ‘legal services’ or ‘legal fees’ to eight different law firms in excess of $600,000 during the 2018 election cycle. This includes disbursements of $182,000 to the San Diego-based law firm Seltzer Caplan McMahon Vitek, which is representing Hunter in the grand jury investigation. The five-term GOP incumbent and his wife were indicted for allegedly using $250,000 in campaign funds for personal use.”
President Trump urged Attorney General Jeff Sessions to “look into all of the corruption on the ‘other side’” after the attorney general disputed Trump’s assertion a day earlier that Sessions had failed to take control of the Department of Justice, ABC News reports.
New York Times: “Mr. Trump listed people and political enemies who he believes deserve the attention of the Justice Department, including the targets of conservative conspiracy theories that claim the Russia investigation was motivated by politics.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
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